Late November-Early December, 1984: White Supremacist Leader Writes Manifesto Declaring War on US Government

Robert Jay Mathews, the leader of the white supremacist group The Order (see August 1984 and After) and a fugitive from justice, pens a four-page “Declaration of War” while recuperating from a minor gunshot wound (see November 23-24, 1984). The letter accuses the FBI of trying to force him to leave his job as an electrician in Metaline Falls, Washington (see 1980-1982), and blames the FBI’s interest in him on his “involvement in the Tax Rebellion Movement from the time I was 15 to 20 years old” (see 1973). Mathews writes of his “thorough disgust… with the American people,” whom he says have “devolved into some of the most cowardly, sheepish, degenerates that have ever littered the face of this planet.” He writes that once he realized “White men” or “Aryans” are the only proper leaders and inhabitants of the US, he determined to take action to “cleanse” the nation of “Mexicans, mulattoes, blacks, and Asians.” Mathews writes of his belief that “a small, cohesive alien group within this nation” with “an iron grip on both major political parties, on Congress, on the media, on the publishing houses, and on most of the major Christian denominations in this nation” are working to ensure that whites become an oppressed and subservient minority in America. Now, he says, the US government “seems determined to force the issue, so we have no choice left but to stand and fight back. Hail Victory!” Mathews denies that his colleague Gary Yarborough fired at FBI agents during those agents’ attempts to secure evidence at Yarborough’s mountain cabin (see October 18, 1984), falsely claims that during the incident, FBI agents “used Gary’s wife as a shield and a hostage and went into the house,” and claims that Yarborough chose not to kill a number of agents, but instead to flee without further violence. He claims that the FBI attempted to “ambush” him at a Portland motel (see November 23-24, 1984), and that FBI agents accidentally gunned down the motel manager in an attempt to shoot Mathews in the back. He also claims that he could have easily killed the FBI agent he shot at the motel, but chose to spare his life, shooting him in the leg instead. Mathews further asserts that FBI agents threatened his two-year-old son and his 63-year-old mother in their attempts to locate him. He declares that he is not going into hiding, but instead “will press the FBI and let them know what it is like to become the hunted.” He writes that he may well die soon, and concludes: “I will leave knowing that I have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the future of my children. As always, for blood, soil, honor, for faith, and for race.” The letter “declares war” against the “Zionist Occupation Government of North America,” and calls for the murder of politicians, judges, and any other authority figures who interfere with The Order’s attempt to overthrow the government and exterminate other races. It concludes, “Let the battle begin.” [Robert Jay Mathews, 12/1984; HistoryLink, 12/6/2006]